Election 2012: Discussing the results and what comes next

The climactic 2011 election came to a close with the declaration late Tuesday night that President Obama had defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The stage is set for Obama’s second term in office, where he will continue to face a Republican House, and work with a Democratic Senate.

The Times’ David Lazarus will return as host of several live conversations beginning at 9:15 a.m. PT. He’ll be joined by Ben Welsh of the Times DataDesk, who will discuss the abundance of multimedia offerings The Times put together for election day, and metro reporter Howard Blume, who will discuss the numerous California propositions.

Lazarus will be joined by a number of Times reporters and outside contributors as the day goes on, with the notable successes of same-sex marriage initiatives in Maryland and Washington, the defeats of controversial Republican U.S. Senate candidates Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin and, of course, the fallout from the tightly contested presidential race all on the docket.

For those unable to watch The Times’ entire broadcast, follow Politics Now for continued coverage of the few races that remain undecided, and the latest developments in the wake of an election that, at least initially, appears to endorse the status quo in Washington.